Nothing Happens
by Itself
Copyright © 2023 Karl W. Palachuk
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Greetings!
I hope you're staying as cool as you can in this very HOT summer! Sacramento always has a few weeks over 100 degrees, and a handful over 110. In fact, here's an old bit of trivia/wisdom:
The California State budget goes July 1 - June 30th. The old wisdom is that the state legislature cannot pass a budget until the temperature is over 100. In other words, it's rarely on time, but it normally passes in July.
Of course, that "wisdom" was born before we had air conditioning.
So, this weather is just standard operating procedure around here. And then I get to wander off to Las Vegas for most of a week. With luck, I'll see you there!
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Reddit Post of the Week
If you haven't tried Reddit recently, you may find it worthwhile. I've been a paid member subscription for more than eight years. It's a site where you have to take responsibility for filtering what you see, and it's as prone to old-school flame wars as any lightly moderated forum. But it's also filled with a lot of technicians who work in MSPs and other tech companies. It's always interesting to see what's important to them - and their view of our industry.
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Sunday, I read this post from a technician who got a decent review after a year, but did not get a raise. The thread was all about second-guessing his performance, encouraging him to walk out of the job, and decrying the evil MSP that didn't give the raise.
I had a different reaction. But I didn't want to get engulfed in a conversation where both sides jumped on me. So I'll just note two things here:
First - Performance evaluations must absolutely be separate from conversations about salary. Evaluations should be done more than once a year. A yearly performance evaluation is a waste of everyone's time.
Employees need and deserve constant feedback. They need quarterly goals (and evaluations). But they also need monthly, weekly, and daily guidance. There should never be any surprises. This is not a game! See Volume Two of the Managed Services Operations Manual, and this blog post and this SOP video.
Second - Employees do deserve regular salary/wage adjustments. But this is not because of annual evaluations, because they have lot of children, or because they are getting married. Raises should be tied to a calendar that's fair. That might mean a specific day or month each year. It might be the employee's anniversary.
Employee performance evaluations are a factor, but the two processes are separate in nature and should be separated in time. As for raises: The more mature your organization, the better you'll be able to give the raises that are due.
Perhaps I'll do a longer post some day, but the basics are simple. You should raise your rates on a regular basis. With even the smallest inflation, your prices go up a bit at a time. And no matter how small inflation is, you should raise your rates about once a year.
Part of the justification for that is the cost of labor - the single largest expense in any service business. And, to be blunt, you need to spend some of that money on wage increases for your people. It's up to you to determine whether that's tied to the consumer price index ( https://www.bls.gov/cpi/) or some other measure.
BUT . . . You need to be making a profit! If you are not making a profit, you need to get your house in order before you go deeper into negative cashflow. You may have mispriced services, mis-paid employees, and made other mistakes in formulating your business. ALL of those decisions can be revisited and fixed over time.
If you need help, or would like a Zoom call to talk about your situation, send me an email.
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JOIN ME on the Road!!!
I'm headed to SoCal next week! Join me at Dave Seibert's SMB TechFest in Irvine. I'll be representing the National Society of IT Service Providers. Please drop by my booth.
ALSO: I'm going to do a presentation on some of the most important "rules" you can put in place to run a great business with happy clients, happy employees, and a profitable bottom line.
Join me there if you can. And be sure to drop by my table!
July 27-28
Irvine, CA
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Harry's MSP Rescue . . . and discount code
If you're going to be in the New Jersey area next week, check out Harry Brelsford's MSP Rescue event on the Princeton campus.
AND you can save $50 on registration right now with promo code karlp.
MSP Rescue
July 27
Princeton, NJ
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Join me in Vegas - Free!
You could win a real-life vintage Robbie the Robot at our booth in Vegas. And even if you don't win, you can still go home with a fancy robot sticker.
Note: You must have a business card to enter the drawing. So be sure to stop by our table first - before you run out of business cards. We're in Booth 101 at ChannelCon.
Join us August 1-3 in Las Vegas.
We have plenty of fun give-aways. Plus - both Kara and Jenn will join MyTie and me in the booth. We'd love to see you there.
Or use the code SBSmallBizThoughts23 if asked. NOTE: I am giving away this robot to one lucky winner. Must be present to win.
:-)
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National Society Update: Elections!
HEADS UP!
NSITSP elections are coming in September. We're opening candidate filing in August. Stay tuned here and at the blog at NSITSP.org for details.
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Also: Stay tuned for a GREAT all-member meeting August 9th. See the info and registration here: https://www.nsitsp.org/events. In addition to the elections, we have a HUGE announcement and we're unveiling some major changes for the year ahead.
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TCP/IP Training Continues
Inside the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community, our series of "Super-Newby" trainings on TCP/IP and building networks continues. This is a good tune-up for anyone, but is primarily intended as a starter kit for new technicians or new-to-networking techs.
We kicked off the series with an Introduction to TCP/IP last week. Members can download the recording now. See "What's New" inside the Community.
Next up:
TCP/IP Troubleshooting
July 26th
9:00 AM Pacific
This is a members-only event. All members are encouraged to bring your whole staff. That way everyone has at least a common, basic understanding of what it takes to build a network in the 2020's. (It's a lot easier than it used to be. But that's true for all technology.)
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As always: Feedback and comments welcome. Please share this newsletter if you enjoy it.
Have a great week!
:-)
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Join me at . . .
- SMB Techfest - July 27-28 in Anaheim
- CompTIA ChannelCon - August 1-3 in Las Vegas
- XChange - August 20-22 in Nashville
- Beerfest - October in Perth, Australia
- SMB IT Pro Conference - October 27-28 in Melbourne, Australia
- ASCII event - December 7 in Waikiki, HI
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You only missed one week. Sign up today. Catch up. And join us live tomorrow!
The Absolutely Unbreakable Rules of Service Delivery
Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk
Author and Community Builder
- Five Tuesdays - July 11 - August 8
- Includes the book The Absolutely Unbreakable Rules of Service Delivery in PDF format
This course covers the most important "rules" you need to follow to create a massively successful business. Based on Karl's 20+ years experience running successful businesses - and helping others do the same.
How can you guarantee that your company delivers great service, has a great culture, and still manages to stay profitable? You need to follow certain “Unbreakable Rules” for success. Best-selling business author and coach Karl W. Palachuk draws on more than thirty years of owning and running service-based businesses to present the rules his companies live by.
These rules will help you align your personal and professional goals while creating “standard operating procedures” to automate successful habits. Notice that “The customer is always right” is not on the list. Why? Because everyone knows that’s not true. Customers are frequently wrong, or would make bad decisions if we didn’t help them to make good decisions.
This class doesn’t waste your time giving lip service to worn out platitudes. Instead, we focus on building a great, successful business in the 21st Century. And since the rules are absolutely unbreakable, they will stand the test of time and the changing business environment.
In addition to the unbreakable rules, we give advice on identifying your own unbreakable rules. Branding, after all, is everything you do in your company: The way you hire, the way you greet customers, the way you document processes, the way you invoice, how you handle difficult conversations, and much more. Your business is a reflection of your beliefs and values. It should be built with intention, not something that “just happened.”
Some of these rules help you make money. Some of them keep your work standards high. Some build culture. All of them help your employees and client to understand the culture that's embedded in your brand. This book will help you identify and codify the core elements of your success. It will also help you build the definitive list of absolutely unbreakable rules that will guide your business going forward.
Top Five Take-aways:
- Define YOUR company’s rules for greater success
- Learn great “best practices” for your company
- You will take actions to improve your business before the class is over
- Improve your profit
- Improve customer service
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Here are the specifics of what you'll learn, week by week:
Week One - Why these rules?
- Define your brand, and the guidelines that create it
- Create rules that define overall behaviors of success
- Learn to prioritize everything you do
Week Two - Client Rules
- Learn to control your processes since you can’t control people
- Learn to get accurate information from clients so you don’t have to guess
- Stop being tempted by unprofitable habits
- Define your overall approach to customer service
Week Three - Employee Rules
- Assuming you have good processes, find employees who will do what you need them to do
- Create clear communications around expectations, behavior, wages, and performance
- Create a great hiring process
- Create effective employee evaluation forms
Week Four - Finance Rules
- Learn why you should be prepaid for everything, and how to implement this policy
- Establish very profitable rules around billable hours and minimums
- Know which money you should go after and which you should avoid
- Establishing new financial policies over time
Week Five - Service Delivery Rules
- Create a great definition of what’s covered under managed services, and train your clients and employees
- Manage time from every angle (time billed, time paid, time off, etc.)
- Sign service agreements with every client
- Use your ticketing system/service board effectively
- Document absolutely everything you do
Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, blogger and author of Relax Focus Succeed (and lots of other books).
Includes five weeks of webinar classes with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor.
This course is intended for business owners and managers. It is particularly useful for the Owner or Operations Manager.
ITSP University Certification:
Meets Certification Requirements for:
- Management
- Service Management
This class will be recorded. Each unit is generally posted within 24 hours of the live class. These recorded units will become the On-Demand class and you’ll have lifetime access to it.
Note: * Members of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community attend at no additional charge. See details in the Community
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All the Resources That Are Fit to Print |
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Recent Blog Posts, Podcasts, and Videos |
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Small Biz Thoughts Blog:
SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday
National Society of IT Service Providers News Blog
Relax Focus Succeed:
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Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:
Our YouTube IT Consulting channel now has more than 705,000 views!
Subscribe today and don't miss a thing!
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: Over 945 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 360+ SOP videos
- 275+ Relax Focus Success videos
Plus . . .
- Training, Courses, Seminars on Managed Services
- Product Reviews
- and more
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Community News
SmallBizThoughts.org
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Join us every Thursday
9 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern
All members welcome.
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August Roundtable: George Sierchio on Business Valuation and General Good Practices
George will be another great guest for us. Members can always find the link in your dashboard.
George Sierchio is an entrepreneurial veteran having owned and operated several successful services and consulting businesses in the last 25+ years.
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Don't Miss These Members-Only Webinars!
See the article above. The Introduction to TCP/IP Training is posted in the Community.
The next two courses are:
TCP/IP Troubleshooting - A Very Practical Workshop
July 26th
Building the Basic Small Business Network - A Very Practical Workshop
August 16th
I created these trainings by request of a Community member. The goal is to make sure you and your techs have a solid understanding of the basics of TCP/IP - the protocol that runs the world.
And if YOU have a request for training or resources, please get in touch with Kara or me.
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Here's the last Community News video: |
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I always enjoy airport artwork (with a few notable exceptions). I always enjoy seeing the big birds at my hope airport in Sacramento. We have several of these scattered around the airport grounds.
:-)
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What's Here?
This calendar lists two kinds of things: LIVE in-person events from any organization that focuses on the SMB consulting community; and MY events, whether live, webinar, etc.
If you have live events on your calendar that may be useful to others in the SMB Community, please let us know. We'd be happy to list them.
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July
Nerdio Training Camp
July 19
Calgary, Cananada
SMB TechFest Q3
July 27-28
Anaheim, CA
Join me Live!
MSPRescue
July 27th
Princeton
ARN Edge (Australian Tech)
July 29-August 2
Queensland, AUS
RetailNOW
July 30 - August 1
Orlando, FL
:-)
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August
CompTIA ChannelCon
August 1-2-3
Las Vegas, NV
Visit me in Booth 101
Join me Live!
Nerdio Training Camp
August 1
Toronto, Canada
ChannelPro Summit
Aug. 9-10
Newark, NJ (Northeast)
IT Nation Evolve Business Leaders
August 7-11, 2023
Denver, Colorado
MSP Community Minds
August 14-15
Denver, CO
XChange - Nashville
August 20-22
Nashville, TN
Join me Live!
Inclusive Leadership Network Workshop 2023
August 23
Nashville, TN
CMIT Connect Live!
August 29th
Austin, TX
ASCII Edge 2023
August 30 & 31
Toronto, Canada
:-)
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September
ChannelPro Summit
Sept. 6-7
Boston (New England)
Nerdio Training Camp
Sept 12
Atlanta, GA
Midsize Enterprise Summit Fall 2023
September 17-19
Houston, TX
ASCII Edge 2023
September 20 & 21
Chicago, IL
CanIT Con
Sept 24-26
Banff, Alberta, Canada
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Sept 28-29
Scottsdale, AZ
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October
dattoCon 2023
Oct. 2-4, 2023
Miami, FL
Nerdio Training Camp
Oct 3
San Antonio, TX
Best of Breed Conference 2023
October 9-10
Atlanta, GA
ChannelPro Summit
Oct. 10-11
Atlanta (Southeast)
NexGen 2023
October 15-18
Houston , TX
Acronis #Cyberfit Summit 2023
Oct. 16-18
Miami, FL
Nerdio Training Camp
Oct 17
Dallas, TX
NexGen Security Workshop 2023
October 18
Orlando, FL
SMB TechFest Q4
October 19
Anaheim, CA
ASCII Edge 2023
October 18 & 19
Washington, D.C.
Beerfest with Karl
- October 2023
- Perth, Australia
More Info: Details to be announced !!!
Join me Live in Perth!
SMB IT Professionals National Conference
October 27-28
Melbourne, Australia
Join me Live!!
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November
ChannelPro CyberSecurity Strategies
Nov 1-2
Los Angeles
IT Nation Evolve Business Leaders
November 6-8, 2023
Orlando, FL
Nerdio Training Camp
Nov 14-15
Austin, TX
IT Nation Sales and Service Leaders
November 28 - December 1, 2023
Nashville, TN
:-)
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December
Growcon
Dec 3-6
Clearwater, FL
Women of the Channel Leadership Summit East 2023
December 4-5
New York, NY
ASCII Navigate in Hawaii !!!
Dec. 7th
Waikiki, HI
Join Me Live in Hawaii!
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Dec 7-8
Phoenix, AZ
Nerdio Training Camp
Dec 12-13
Los Angeles, CA
:-)
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January 2024
Send us your updates
February 2024
Send us your updates
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March
Midsize Enterprise Summit IT Security 2024
March 18-19, 2024
Indianapolis, IN
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Note: If you know of any in-person event for SMB Consultants, please send info to karlp@greatlittlebook.com. |
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Small Biz Thoughts is a subsidiary of Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc. |
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